Semiconductor lasers are widely used in applications such as optical communications and compact disk players, etc. In those applications, the optical intensity of the lasers is usually monitored for any intensity variation due to changing of the environment (e.g. temperature), heat generated by the laser circuitry, long-term drift of the laser properties, or drift of the properties of the circuitry that drives the laser. Generally, for conventional edge-emitting lasers, the intensity of the laser is monitored by a separate photodetector installed in the vicinity of the laser. The photodetector receives a small portion of the total optical radiation emitted from the laser and generates a feedback signal that corresponds to the intensity of the emitted radiation. This feedback signal is then provided to a feedback circuit that sends a control signal to the circuit that provides current to the laser. Accordingly, any drift of the laser intensity is detected and compensated by adjusting the current applied to the laser. In digital applications wherein the laser is modulated by a series of current pulses, the photodetector is also used to verify the output optical pulses against the input of the electrical pulses.
A new class of semiconductor lasers, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs), has been developed. Unlike conventional edge emitting lasers that emit light in a direction parallel to the semiconductor substrates where the lasers are formed, a VCSEL has an optical cavity perpendicular to the substrate and emits optical radiation in a direction perpendicular to the substrate. Because of this structure, a VCSEL is more readily integrated with a photodiode than a conventional edge emitting laser.
In an article "Monolithic Integration of Photodetector with Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser, " Electronic Letters, Vol. 27, No. 18, pp.1630-1632 (1991), Hasnain et al. disclose an integrated device comprising a VCSEL and a PIN photodiode. In this device, the VCSEL is epitaxially formed on a semiconductor substrate and the PIN photodiode is epitaxially formed on the VCSEL. When operating, the VCSEL emits optical radiation which traverses the PIN photodiode. Accordingly, the photodiode absorbs a small portion of the optical radiation and generates a photocurrent which corresponds to the intensity of the radiation. However, in this device, the PIN photodiode undesirable reflects and absorbs a portion of the light emitted from the VCSEL, which compromises the optical efficiency of the VCSEL.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to develop an integrated optoelectronic device comprising a VCSEL and a photodiode without compromising the optical efficiency of the VCSEL.
Certain semiconductor diodes known as superluminescent light emitting diodes (SLEDs) also emit radiation in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the p-n junction. These SLEDs have a construction that is similar to that of a VCSEL except that one of the mirrors either is absent or has reduced reflectance such that the threshold conditions for lasing cannot be achieved.
It is yet another object of the invention to monolithically integrate SLEDs with photodiodes in various structures.